


Spooky and Mrs. Barnes

by lovelyavengers (fandomsandxfiles)



Series: From The SSR Case Files [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky and Reader are both SSR Agents, Case Fic, Coworkers to lovers, Espionage, F/M, Inspired by The X-Files, but you don't need to know anything about the show to read this, set in 1951
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24325927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsandxfiles/pseuds/lovelyavengers
Summary: a strange case in rural Pennsylvania leaves SSR agents Barnes and L/N stumped, but not before Bucky can think of some theories that are out of this world.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Series: From The SSR Case Files [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809622
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Spooky and Mrs. Barnes

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a writing challenge on tumblr. the prompt i had is bolded.
> 
> Prompt: "Don't ask."

"Agent L/N, the chief wants to see you in his office," an agent told you right as you walked into the SSR bullpen one morning.

You nodded at him and headed over to your desk, confused as to why the chief needed to see you. Racking your brain, you couldn't remember anything you did wrong, and you thought you handed in all the necessary paperwork for your latest case. Hoping nothing was seriously wrong, you knocked on the chief's door. 

"Come in Agent L/N."

"Chief Thompson, you wanted to see me, sir?" You said, sitting down in one of the chairs across from his desk.

The chief nodded. "You know of Agent Barnes, correct?"

"Uh, yes sir," you said, surprised. "I've worked a couple cases with him, but not recently. If I might ask, what does this have to do with me?"

"A memo just came across my desk that he is going to be traveling to New Hope, Pennsylvania to work on a case as help to the local police department. As I'm sure you're aware, Agent Barnes can be something of an acquired taste, so I'd like you to go with him. Unfortunately, I don't have any other information than that. Agent Barnes will have more details about the case."

"Not a problem, I'll reach out to him right away," you said, getting up from the chair and heading over to the door.

"Agent L/N," the chief said, right as your hand was turning the doorknob. "You know what he can be like. Try to keep him under control, will you?"

"No problem sir," you said walking out the door and through the bullpen.

Agent James Barnes' office was a bit out of the way, and he's the only agent other than the chief to have an office of his own, as the rest of you worked out in the bullpen. You understood why he wouldn't want to work in the bullpen though, it was getting cramped and uncomfortable as more agents were hired. With the chief's approval, he had remodeled the old evidence room as his office and worked in there.

You knocked on the door and waited until you heard a muffled "come in," from the other side. When you walked in, you could see Agent Barnes slumped over at his desk, with his head on top of a small pile of files.

"Is this a bad time or something?" you asked, eyebrows raised.

Agent Barnes groaned and sat up, smiling a little when he saw you. "Oh hey Y/N, it's you. What'd they send you down here to my cave for?"

"I'm going to be working with you on your next case James," you said. "The one in Pennsylvania." 

"Who's this James fellow? Never heard of him," he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Come on Y/N, you remember what I said last time, it's Bucky. James makes me feel like my ma is about to yell at me for somethin' I didn't do."

"Would you rather me refer to you as 'Agent Barnes' then?"

"Nah, now I feel like I'm getting a reprimand from the chief," he said. "Course, you could always call me 'Spooky,' it's not like I don't know what my office nickname is around here," he added, smiling.

"Bucky, I know that half the agents think you've developed some kind of psychic ability after escaping from Hydra, but they call you 'Spooky' because you tend to come up with ideas that are a little out of the box."

"And what do you think, huh?"

"I think that you sequestering yourself away in this little office isn't really helping," you said. "I rarely see you around the bullpen, you're always holed up in here."

"Is that why you're really here?" he asked. "To see your friend that you missed so much?"

"We're friends? I was just assigned to help some agent with a case and was told I could find him here."

Bucky groaned again. "That's cruel Y/N, that's just cruel."

The next time you saw Bucky, you were loading your small suitcase in the back of the car that the SSR was providing you to drive to New Hope. Keeping the case file in your hand, you got in the passenger seat of the vehicle and turned to him. "We have a bit a drive ahead of us, and I know you have theories. You can catch me up on the way there."

"I'll catch you up over breakfast." 

***

About an hour after leaving the SSR, Bucky stopped at a small diner in New Jersey for a late breakfast, where the two of you were seemingly the only people other than the staff that were even awake within fifty miles. After you were seated, you took the case file out of your bag and put in on the table. "Alright," you said. "What are we dealing with here?" 

"What, you didn't do your homework?" Bucky asked, fiddling with the salt and pepper shakers on the table. 

"Of course I did my homework! I just want to know what kind of theories you've cooked up this time, because those won't be in the file," you said. "I'd like to get an idea of how much you've lost your mind before we get there."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but grabbed the case file from across the table and opened it. "New Hope is a sleepy little town on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I think it can technically be considered a village, census data only shows it to be home to 1,066 people. In fact, I barely think it's on the map. Between the 1940 census and last year's, it only shows an increase of 13 people, and for a ten year time lapse, that seems small." 

"So why all your interest in this town then?" 

"I'm getting to that," he said, flipping through the papers in the file. "Apparently, for the last few months, they've had increase reports of unusual activity. Flashing lights at night, strange sounds, people disappearing, stuff like that. They just found the body of one of the missing the other day. Victim's name was Ava Jones, age 37," he said, passing you a photo of her from the file. "The coroner had an issue identifying the cause of death, so they reached out to the FBI, who dumped the case on us." 

"Bucky, you still haven't answered my question, why are _you_ interested in this town? The chief didn't really know much about the case when he told me I was working with you, which means you snatched it before he got a chance to look it over. You're a high-ranking agent and you definitely could have pawned this off on someone else, so why did you keep it?" 

"Are you always this cynical Y/N?" Bucky asked, raising his eyebrows. 

"It's only for you dear," you shot back. 

"I took the case because I wanted to see what was happening here, find the truth. Does that seem so crazy?"

"I don't know, I think the jury's still out." 

***

Bucky pulled into the parking lot of the police station, which could have fooled you into thinking it was just someone's house, if not for a small sign that read "New Hope Police" tacked above the door. The interior looked much more like a police station though, with officers and detectives constantly moving around. The secretary at the front desk pointed you in the direction of the chief's office, and the two of you squeezed past the desks and knocked on the door before entering. There were two men in the room, and they both stopped speaking when you and Bucky entered. 

The chief stood up from his desk. "Are you two the federal agents that were supposed to come by?" 

You nodded, and Bucky stepped towards him, holding his hand out to shake. "Yes sir. I'm Agent James Barnes and this is Agent Y/N L/N. We're from the Strategic Scientific Reserve." 

After the chief shook Bucky's hand, you held out your hand to shake. "I'm Chief John Waters," he said before motioning to the other man in the room. "And this is Detective William Daniels, he's the lead investigator on this case. I mean no disrespect, but I was under the impression that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would be handling this case."

"With all due respect, the SSR would be much better equipped to handle so-called "odd" cases than the FBI, which is why they contacted us," you said. "And from what I understand, there is a considerable degree of peculiarity to this case." 

"That's an understatement," Detective Daniels spoke up. "It's something the town has never seen before, and the citizens are starting to get rattled." 

"I understand that you've recovered a body," you said, nodding. "Did the coroner decide on a cause of death yet?" 

"No ma'am, not at the time I'd last spoken to him" the detective answered. "If you'd like, we could go over now and see if anything new has come up?" 

"Sure," you said, and you and Bucky let Detective Daniels lead you out of the chief's office and down the stairs into the morgue. 

Detective Daniels introduced you to the coroner, and asked the coroner what he thought the woman had died of. "It's hard to say right now," was the response. "From my preliminary checks there didn't appear to be anything wrong with her." 

"Did you get anything on the toxicological?" Bucky asked, walking through the room. 

"Not initially, but the blood test results came back today, and there was something strange in that," the coroner said. 

"How strange?" 

"The victim had a virus in her blood, one that I couldn't seem to identify." 

"Do you still have a sample of the blood?" Bucky asked. "We might be able to send it back to the SSR office to be analyzed."

"I can get you a sample of the victim's blood, but other than that I don't know how much help I can be to the investigation," the coroner said, shrugging his shoulders. 

"That's alright, I also want to take a tour of the town and interview some of the locals," Bucky said. "We'll call the office later and give you the information of the motel we're staying at, so you can get in touch with us if you need." 

A few moments later, you and Bucky were heading out of the police station and back to the car, this time armed with a map of the town and a list of the places where a lot of people hung out during the day. "So, what do you think happened?" you asked as he pulled out of the parking lot. 

"What makes you think I have any theories?" 

"You have that look on your face." 

"What look?" 

"I don't know, you just have a look. I know you've got a theory Bucky, so out with it." 

"I'll know more when we speak to the locals, but some of the phenomena that was described in the file sounds like it could be extraterrestrial in origin."

"Barnes, I think you're going nuts," was your response.

"What? Too 'Spooky' for you?" Bucky said, wiggling his eyebrows.

You only rolled your eyes in response.

*** 

"Hey!" you said as Bucky drove right past the motel you had booked rooms at. "You missed the turn!" 

"We can check in later, we've got somewhere else to be first," he answered, pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant, the sign reading _Benny's Diner._

"Didn't we just eat a little while ago?" you asked, getting out of the car. 

"We need to talk to some of the local folk and see if they've seen anything odd, and according to the detective, this is the 'happening place' during the day," Bucky answered, holding the door open for you. "And I don't know about you, but I could do with a slice of pie." 

Compared to the diners and automats you'd visited in New York, the place was empty. Maybe 6 people were sitting in the dining room, not counting you and Bucky. When you and Bucky entered, it was like the entire place had stopped to stare at you. After a few moments, the townspeople finally turned back away from you, and Bucky led you to a booth in the corner. "I don't think they get many visitors out here," he said lowly. "If it wasn't for all this strange stuff happening, I think we'd be the most interesting thing they've seen in a while." 

Before you could respond, the waitress arrived. "Now what can I get you two love birds?" she asked, smiling. 

Both you and Bucky stopped for a moment in shock, but you recovered first. "We're not together ma'am," you said. "We're in town looking into some of strange things that have been happening recently." 

"Oh I'm sorry dear!" the waitress responded. "The way you two walked in, I thought you were a couple."

"Have you seen anything odd recently?" Bucky asked, finally coming back to his senses. 

The waitress looked around and lowered her voice. "I might be crazy to say this out loud, but a few days ago, I saw a bright white light. I couldn't tell you what caused it for the life of me though." 

"Where were you when you saw it?" Bucky's eyes lit up. 

"Asleep at home," the waitress said. "The light came right through my window and woke me out of a dead sleep. Then I heard a loud whooshing sound, and suddenly it was gone." 

"Do you know if anyone else saw the light or heard the noises the same night you did?" You asked.

She shook her head in response. "Sorry dear, I don't know." 

"If I might ask, what do you think happened?" Bucky cut in. 

"Some folks 'round here are saying it's a spaceship, that aliens are comin' down to earth," she said. "All I know is that I've never seen or heard anything like I did the other day."

Bucky thanked her and ordered a slice of apple pie for each of you. When she disappeared to get your food, he turned to you and raised his eyebrows. "What does Miss Skeptic think of all this?" he teased. "The phenomena that the waitress described sounds like happened the night before the victim's body was discovered, and you heard the coroner today, he was completely stumped about the victim and her cause of death." 

"I'm not convinced Bucky," you said, rolling your eyes. "This is a small town, and evidently these people don't have much to do, so how can you prove that the things people are saying they see and hear isn't a result of drugs or alcohol? And you saw the police station, it looks like someone's house! It would be perfectly understandable for the coroner to be unsure, it's obvious he hasn't dealt with a situation like this before. I'm honestly surprised a small town like this even has a morgue and a coroner." 

"But what about the virus that the coroner spoke about? If it was extraterrestrial in nature it would explain why we can't recognize it." 

"Might I remind you of a threat much closer to us than outer space? Bucky, the international climate hasn't gotten much better since the end of the war, and though we may not be directly at war, the Soviet Union is working against us. You heard what Senator McCarthy was saying, that communist spies could be anywhere." 

"I don't know that Senator McCarthy is a real reputable source of information," Bucky said. 

"Bucky, I agree that the man might be making mountains out of molehills, but I do think that communism is a bigger problem for the United States right now than _visitors from outer space_."

***

The two of you finally checked into the motel after driving around a little more. You quickly dropped everything but the case file off in your room and headed outside to the one payphone in the vicinity to call the chief and update the office on what's happening. After dialing the number for the SSR and confirming your badge number, you were connected to the chief. 

"Thompson," he picked up. 

"Chief? It's Agent L/N," you said. "I wanted to update you on my progress in the New Hope case." 

"Okay, what did you find out so far?" 

"Several people have disappeared from the area within the last two months, but only one body has turned up, found a couple of days ago. Victim is a 37 year old woman, and the coroner identified some kind of virus in her bloodstream, but was unable to identify it any further. Also, some of the locals claim that there were bright lights and loud sounds in the middle of the night, but none of them had any idea where they could have come from," you reported. 

"What does Agent Barnes think?"

You laughed quietly. "Agent Barnes is under the impression that these events could be evidence of extraterrestrial activity, and possibly threat sir. I however, believe that although these events may seem odd, there are several possible explanations that originate much closer than the far reaches of space." 

"Have you found any evidence of Soviet activity?" the chief asked, catching on to your implication. 

"Not yet," you said. "But we haven't really gotten a good look at the town and the area where the victim was found yet. A sample of her blood will be sent to the SSR though, the lab techs might have better luck identifying the the virus than we would." 

"Understood Agent L/N, I'll keep an eye out for it." 

After promising to call if you uncovered anything important, you hung up and knocked on the door to Bucky's room. "I just got off the phone with the chief," you said as Bucky opened the door. "He's going to keep an eye out for the blood sample the police is sending, and if anyone develops, we should let him know." 

Bucky nodded. "Alright then, what's the plan for tomorrow?" 

"I think we're meeting the detective at the police station at eleven, and he's going to show us where they discovered the body. The coroner also gave me his notes and the toxicology result to look over," you answered, taking the case file and placing it on the table. "We should go over the case file again and take some notes, this way we can keep track of important developments."

"That's smart," was Bucky's answer, as he pulled two chairs over to the small round table in his room. The two of you poured over the case for several hours after that, making notes on the information in it and what you two had experienced today.

"Bucky, you're not seriously putting down aliens, are you?"

"We need to write down all the possible explanations, no matter how much you disagree with them."

"I am not putting aliens in my case report."

"Why not?"

"Because what's happening here is not a result of little green men from outer space Bucky. It's either a result of some bored and possibly inebriated townsfolk, or the work of international espionage."

"Oh, I see what's happening here."

"Really? I doubt that highly Bucky."

"You were sent with me as my babysitter, because they couldn't just let old Spooky go out by himself, or he’d ruin the organization’s reputation,” Bucky said as he stood up, and you could see the hurt on his face.

"I don't know why the chief chose to send me with you, but it was to help you!" you said. "It's hard enough for one agent to handle a case by himself in New York, let alone in a completely new location."

Bucky saw the look on your face, and his expression softened. "I'm sorry Y/N," he said sincerely. "It's been a long day and I lashed out."

You walked over to him and put your hand on his arm, but he pulled you into a hug. "It's okay Bucky, I think we should get some rest anyway. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Once he let go, you gathered up the few things you had brought into his room, and headed to the next room over. You hadn't even turned the key when the door pushed open, leaving you on high alert. Drawing your gun from the waistband of your skirt, you slowly pushed the door fully open.

Someone had definitely been in your room. The furniture was moved, and the nightstand knocked over. Your suitcase, which you had placed neatly on the floor next to the table, was now open and on your bed, your once neatly folded clothes now everywhere. After checking the bathroom to make sure no one was still there, you quickly threw all of your things back in the suitcase and walked out, knocking on Bucky's door.

"Who is it?" he called out.

"It's Y/N!"

"Did you leave something in here?" he joked as he opened the door, but stopped when he saw you with your suitcase and a worried expression on your face. He was obviously getting ready for bed, because he had taken off his suit jacket and shirt, now wearing just his undershirt and pants. And you couldn't lie to yourself, he was attractive. You could see scarring on his left arm from his time in captivity, and although this was the first time you'd seen it, you had heard him joke before that if he hadn't escaped when he did, they probably would have cut his arm clean off.

"Can I sleep in your armchair?" you asked. "Someone was in my room and rifled through my things, I don't know if it's bugged or anything now."

Bucky nodded as he shut and locked the door behind you. "I'll sleep on the chair, you can take the bed."

"I can't make you do that," you said as you put your suitcase down next to his. "You drove all the way here."

"I'm trying to be a gentleman here Y/N," he said. "At least to make up for the way I lashed out at you before."

"You don't have to do anything Bucky, I'm serious. And besides, I'm the guest in this room, I can't take the bed from you."

"Why don't we just share?" Bucky said out of the blue, which caught you by surprise, but not an unwelcome one.

It took all your power to shake your head and say. "No, I can't do that to you, I'll just sleep on the chair."

Bucky walked over to you and took your hand gently. "I insist Y/N. Please," he said, giving you a look you didn't have the heart to refuse.

"Alright," you said. "Let me go get ready then."

Once you shut the door to the bathroom, you heaved a big sigh and started to get ready. Thankfully you had brought pajamas that weren't revealing, because you might have dropped dead from embarrassment if you had to wear your silk slip around Bucky. When you finally exited the bathroom, Bucky was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a white tank top. "Which side of the bed do you prefer?" he asked quietly.

You were touched that he waited to ask you which side of the bed that you prefer. "It doesn't really matter to me, which side would you rather have?"

"I'll take the side closer to the door, if you don't mind."

Silently, you crawled into the bed and laid under the motel duvet, your mind still racing. You heard Bucky's breathing even out and soon quiet snores could be heard from his side of the bed. After what seemed like forever, your eyes felt heavy and you slowly drifted off to dreamland.

***

Bucky had apparently set the alarm clock in the room wrong, because at the crack of dawn a shrill ring broke the silence. You shifted to turn the alarm off, but found that you couldn't move. Opening your eyes, you realized that at some point in the night, you had completely turned in your sleep and cuddled up right next to Bucky, who had also rolled over and had has arm around you. You managed to wriggle your arm out enough to turn off the alarm, but other than that, you weren't sure what to do. As you started to plan a way to get out of bed without waking Bucky, it seemed that your body had other ideas, and your eyes started to get heavy. Before you knew it, you had fallen back asleep in his embrace.

The second time you opened your eyes, Bucky was just waking up, and it took him a little longer to realize the position that you two had ended up in. But he didn't say anything except "good morning," as he got out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom. As much as you didn't want to admit it, there was a part of you that hoped that happened tonight too.

When the two of you were both ready, you met Detective Daniels over at the police station, and followed his car out to a field at the edge of town. "This is where the body was found," he said. "It was called in by a patrolling officer early in the morning." 

You nodded, and Bucky pointed towards the field, which had a sign warning the public to keep out. "Do you think I could go have a look around?" 

The detective nodded and moments later, Bucky was in the middle of the field, doing god knows what to investigate. You turned to Detective Daniels after Bucky ran off. "We spoke to some of the townspeople yesterday at the diner, and one woman recounted seeing a bright light in the middle of the night a few days ago. Did your office get any calls about that?" 

Daniels shook his head. "No ma'am, I haven't heard anything about bright lights like that. People have called in and reported flashing lights in the sky, but that was about a week before this victim was found." 

You nodded. "I'm not sure what to think at this point. My office is on the lookout for the sample of the victim's blood that you guys are sending, and I think I'd like to wait and see what they come back with before I try and make sense of some of this stuff." 

"That makes sense," Daniels said. "I've never dealt with anything like this, so I'm still in shock I think." 

"Strange cases are normal at the SSR," you said, smiling. "But this one might be one of the stranger ones." 

"I'll say," the detective replied. A small silence fell before he spoke again. "Would you happen to know why your partner is currently sniffing the ground?" 

You looked over in Bucky's direction, only to watch him lay down on the ground and practically inhale the dirt. **"Don't ask,"** you said. "That's a question I can't answer."

Detective Daniels laughed, and the two of you you started to make your way through the field towards Bucky, who hadn't yet noticed you due to the fact he was still crouching and looking at the ground. You cleared your throat after a few moments of standing next to him, and he jumped a little. "What are you doing over here, planting flowers?" 

Bucky gave you a wry smile in return. "Ha ha," he deadpanned. “was looking for something that other people might have missed." 

You nodded before starting to poke around yourself, and almost immediately noticed a nondescript looking building on the other side of the field. "Hey Detective!" you called to him. "What's that building over there?" 

Daniels shrugged. "I'm not sure, the other half of this field is technically outside town limits. It looks like it's been abandoned though." 

"Do you mind if we go take a quick look?" Bucky asked. 

"Go ahead," Daniels said. 

The two of you quietly walked through the field and stopped almost at the building. Upon closer inspection, it didn't look abandoned. From your new vantage point, you could see cars parked around the back of the building, looking brand new. The building looked to have been part of a factory complex at one point, but the absence of any other buildings like it in the surrounding area made you automatically suspicious. 

Against all better judgement, you followed Bucky to the building, and tried to peek in through the windows. Through the cracks in the shades, you thought you could see what looked like an operating table and lab equipment. "Bucky, what if there are spies here testing on people? It would explain the amount of people gone missing within the last few months and the unexplained virus the coroner found in the victim's bloodstream." 

Bucky looked around. "Seems a bit stupid to dump a body two hundred feet from your secret lab though, doesn't it?" 

"Unless the victim escaped," you reasoned. "If she escaped somehow and didn't get very far before exhaustion and the test virus kicked in, it might explain why she was so easily found. If the other missing people were taken here and died, then why didn't we find their bodies with this victim if that was their intended area to dump them?”

"What are we going to do?" Bucky asked. "I don't think we can bring the entire SSR out here." 

"We have to come back at night," you said. "The local police should be able to back us up and hold anyone we apprehend until the SSR can get out here, but we may have to go in ourselves. And it has to be tonight. Someone is already suspicious of us even being here, or they wouldn't have rifled through my suitcase last night." 

***

By the time you returned to the building, the sun was just setting. You had called the chief again just before you left and told him to send some men out to pick up possible spies, equipped yourself with flashlights and appropriate dark clothing (the skirt and small heels that you were wearing earlier just wouldn't have worked), and met Detective Daniels just outside the field. 

"I have all the units I can surrounding our side the field, and I spoke with the next town's police chief, and his units are blocking his side of the field. Are you sure the two of you can handle going in by yourself?" 

"Yeah," you said. "We don't know exactly what we're dealing with here, it's better to attempt to do this quietly. We'll radio you if there's any issues." 

You and Bucky walked slowly across the field again, and you stopped a little before you reached the building. "Look," you said, tapping Bucky's arm. "It looks like there's lights on inside." 

"They're going to try and get away if we barge in," he said. "What should we do?" 

You thought for a moment before spotting the several cars that were parked beside the building when you were there earlier. "They'll want to use those, but is there a way to remove something from the engine to stop it from starting?” 

Bucky's face lit up. "Oh Y/N, I like the way you think." 

You kept lookout while Bucky tampered ever so slightly with each of the cars, just enough that they couldn't start if someone wanted to try and get away, and soon the two of you were looking around for a way to get in. "Look," you said. "Someone's left the side door open." 

"For super secret spies, you would think they'd have slightly better security protocols," Bucky whispered, causing you to giggle. 

You peeked in through the door to see three men in lab coats and masks and one person laying on what looked like an operating table. 

You looked at Bucky and motioned towards the men with your gun, and he nodded in response. On your count the two of you busted through the door and pointed your guns at the men. "Federal agents! We're armed!" 

Immediately, they tried to exit through another door at the end of the room, leaving the person laying on the operating table. You and Bucky tore after them, and you eventually caught up to two of them after firing and hitting them in the leg. "I got these two, you go after the last one!" Bucky shouted and you took off, chasing the man around the building. 

And right to the getaway cars. The man gave a sick smile in your direction as he shut the door to the car, but you knew what was about to happen. He eventually caught on too, when the car only sputtered rather than starting normally. But apparently he wasn't done trying to escape. Advancing towards you, you realized he was going to try and take you down. 

What this man didn't know was that you were trained by Peggy Carter herself, and you could more than handle whoever this man thought he was. With a well placed kick to the stomach, you knocked him down, and when he tried to come at you again, you flipped him over your shoulder, where he was knocked out as he hit the ground. You were cuffing him up right as Bucky jogged over with a couple New Hope police officers. 

"Did he go for the car?" Bucky asked when he realized where you were.

"Yeah," you responded, laughing. "Boy you should have seen the look on his face when he realized what had happened!" 

"We got the rest of them, Detective Daniels is going to hold them at the station until the SSR arrives to take them to New York." 

"Thanks," you said. "I told Chief Thompson that we were going to drive back up tomorrow morning when I spoke to him before. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I could stay awake long enough to both deal with this and make a two hour drive home." 

***

Back at the New Hope police station, you two had filled out all the necessary paperwork and gave the officers instructions on what to do when the SSR arrived to pick the men up. You didn't even realize how late it was until the adrenaline started to wear off and you were stifling several yawns. Bucky had to practically drag you to the car so you could go back to the motel and get some sleep. 

"You know what I realized?" you asked on the drive over. 

"What did you realize?" 

"That I was right all along, it was spies and not aliens." 

"Alright, alright," Bucky conceded. "This time, you were right. But let me remind you that not everything that was happening here could be explained by those men we apprehended tonight. Unless they could levitate that building and pilot it, the bright lights and strange noises will remain unexplained." 

You rolled your eyes in response. "Believe whatever you want Spooky," you teased. "But I still think that some of the 'phenomena' you describe is simply just a case of alcohol or drug abuse." 

"Not cool Y/N, not cool," was Bucky's answer. 

***

The two of you made it safely back to New York the next morning to give your final report to the chief and get back to other cases, and after you came back, you didn't see Bucky again for about two weeks. And in some strange way, you missed him a lot more than you wanted to admit. You had been ignoring your growing feelings for the agent in the corner office since you woke up that morning to find his arms wrapped around you, but you didn't think he saw you in that way. So when the chief asked you to bring him some files one morning, you jumped at the chance. 

You knocked quietly on Bucky's door and waited for his okay to come in. As if it was Déjà vu, he has sitting at his desk with his head perched on a stack of files, just like the last time you entered his office. "Is this how you work or something?" you asked as you opened the door. 

He perked up when he heard your voice and smiled at you. "Y/N! Now why have you been sent to my cave?" 

You dropped the files on his desk. "Chief wanted me to drop these off for you, said you'd know what to do with them." 

"Is that all? You didn't come to see your friend?" 

"I'm going to say the same thing I said last time: I didn't know we were friends," you teased, smiling. 

"Y/N!" he said as he got up and walked over to you. "You wound me!" 

"You see my point though." 

"I do," he said. "And are we really friends?"

You stopped and went quiet. "I would think so. What else would we be?" 

Bucky closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "Why do you make things so difficult sometimes?” he muttered. 

"I make things difficult? I'll have you know Mister-" you started to say before he cut you off. 

"Y/N what I'm trying to say is that I think I'm in love with you!" 

"Well you also think aliens are real, so should I really trust your judgement on this?" you quickly teased, not really registering what he had said to you. 

That was it for Bucky. "Oh, for Christ's sake," he said, stepping closer to you and pulling you into a searing kiss. You melted against him and soon the two of you broke apart, panting slightly. "Now do you believe me?" he asked. 

"Only if you kiss me like that again," you said, a smile playing on your lips. 

"Oh darling, I plan on it." 

_\- the end -_


End file.
